£88m interest round the club’s neck

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YESTERDAY’S number was 54 — as in it’s going to cost you 54 per cent more to go to Old Trafford. Probably. Today’s number is 88, because it seems that it will cost Manchester United at least £88 million to pay five years’ worth of interest on loans taken out to finance Malcolm Glazer’s purchase of the club. So what? So quite a lot, actually. And the implications are not dry financial ones. The ramifications translate into tangible sporting concerns.

The key point to appreciate is that, under the old ownership, Manchester United had no debts and paid no interest.